Generally, semiconductor devices are fabricated by depositing a plurality of insulating, conductive, and semiconductive material layers over a substrate or workpiece, and patterning the various material layers to form integrated circuits and electrical devices or elements thereon. The conductive, semiconductive, and insulating material layers are patterned using lithography and etched to form integrated circuits (IC's).
A semiconductor workpiece is typically exposed to several types of energy during the fabrication process. Energy sources such as visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, electron beam and x-ray radiant energy are used in photolithography, for example.
UV light is often used in many curing processes, e.g., for spin-on dielectric layers and/or low dielectric constant insulating materials. UV light has a shorter wavelength than visible light. For example, visible light is typically considered to be light having a wavelength of about 380 to 770 nm, while UV light is usually considered to fall within the wavelength range of about 157 to 400 nm.
A problem with exposing a semiconductor device to UV light is that the UV light may cause undesired changes to underlying material layers and electrical devices.
Thus, what is needed in the art is a semiconductor device structure and method of manufacturing thereof wherein material layers and electrical devices formed on the semiconductor device are protected from UV light.